January 31, 2018 at 1:20 p.m.
Bowling: Hodag boys roll season high in home win
Bowling: Hodag boys roll season high in home win
The Hodags were on a roll at their home lanes, posting a season-best score of 1,864 pins in a nine-game series as they defeated D.C. Everest 6-3 in a Wisconsin High School Bowling Club District 9 meet.
Rhinelander/Elcho broke 200 in six of its nine games, rolled 198 in another, and posted the second-highest series of the season in District 9 - only two pins behind Wausau East/West's 1,866 two weeks ago in Merrill.
"The boys got settled in right off the bat. A couple of hiccups in the middle but, obviously, they bowled awesome today," coach Mike Bourcier said.
The Hodags set the tone early on, striking on their final seven balls of Game 1 to post a season-high score of 235. That mark lasted less than two hours, however, as the Hodags threw eight straight strikes in Game 9 en route to a match-closing 266.
Bourcier said familiarity with the lanes and a more forgiving oil pattern sent the team's scores skyrocketing. The Hodags averaged 207.1 pins per game Sunday nearly 50 pins better than its 157.3 average entering the match.
"You can relax a little bit and throw the ball a bit faster because you know it's going to come back," Bourcier said. "On the longer oil pattern, you have a little less room for forgiveness and I saw that today in the shots."
The Everest squad wasn't a pushover, averaging 175.3 pins in defeat. The Evergreens took a hotly-contested seventh game 218-212 after starting the game with five straight strikes.
"We had some good competition," Bourcier said. "We had that nail-biter there in Game 7. "Those were fun games there. It was real good on that end of it. We had some competition and we were able to do something. We know we can do it and today was the day we showed it."
Rhinelander's lead was only 4-3 at that point, but the Hodags posted marks in the first eight frames of Game 8 to earn a match-securing 202-163 win before putting the hammer down in the finale.
Hodag senior Darin Bloomquist was nearly flawless. The district's top bowler, based on season-long fill percentage, went 17 of 18 on the day with 15 strikes. His only slip was failing to convert a 6-9-10 spare in the final frame of Game 5, which Everest rallied to win 152-145.
"He was smooth and comfortable in his home house," Bourcier said. "There was a little stronger hooking pattern, so you've got to be careful with your line and grab the right ball. Darin, who bowled really well today, used a urethane ball that doesn't hook as much, but it's a even, consistent-hooking ball. That's what you needed here."
Rhinelander, as a team, threw 47 strikes and filled 82 percent of its frames Sunday (72 of 90). Jeremiah Braun, who was responsible for the second and seventh frames all day, was 16 of 18 with seven strikes.
"Jeremiah had an awesome day today, his best showing ever," Bourcier said. "We just had to make sure he kept his feet underneath him. If he gets too fast, he starts falling off. He kept his feet under him, was solid and threw a great ball today."
Jacob Wager was 14 of 18 with 12 strikes, Dylan Haagen went 14 of 18 with five strikes and Calvin Schneider was 13 of 18 with eight strikes.
Girls skunked by Wausau
Home cooking did not have quite the same effect for the Rhinelander/Elcho girls team on Sunday. Despite bowling only one pair of lanes over from their male counterparts, the Hodag girls could not take a game from Wausau East/West.
The Hodags finished slightly above their season average with a score of 1,274 pins (141.6 average), but Wausau did not give Rhinelander/Elcho many opportunities, finishing the day with a 1,718 pinfall (190.9 average).
"The girls did OK, but they were bowling a strong team today with the Wausau East/West team," Bourcier said. "It makes it a little tougher. The girls kept their attitudes up and everything. They didn't get down. They were having a good time. It was still up and down, a lot of easy misses across them all."
Rhinelander/Elcho's best game of the day was a 187 in Game 2, but the Hodags lost to Wausau's 221. Rhinelander's highest score the rest of the way was 152 while Wausau's lowest was 160.
"We're close on a few games and far off on the others," Bourcier said.
Katrina Blasius led the Hodags, filling 13 of 18 frames with five strikes. Molly Wagler, Alexis Kriesel and Mackenzie Bourcier all filled 10 of 18 frames.
"Mackenzie struggled today with her eight opens and Katrina had five. Were they makeable? Yeah, they were makeable spares," coach Bourcier said.
Middle school ekes out win
The Rhinelander/Elcho/Three Lakes/Zion middle school team narrowly pulled out a win against the most evenly-matched opponent its faced all season - itself.
With the bye in District 9 play, the Hodags competed against their season average and earned a narrow 5-4 win. The team got a 10-pin allowance on its year-to-date average, meaning it had to bowl 111 or better to get credited for a win in each game Sunday. Rhinelander finished on that number exactly in the decisive ninth game after anchor bowler Kody Litzen rolled two strikes followed by an eight-count in the 10th frame.
The team found the left lane of its pair much more difficult than the right lane. All five of the Hodags' wins came on the right lane (160, 141, 148, 136 and 111). The team narrowly lost all four of its games in the left lane (105, 102, 109 and 107).
"They just couldn't get that extra mark or pin count (on the left lane)," Bourcier said. "They got 5-4. They won their match. They were good-natured. Everyone stayed happy. No one was getting down. They were trying to pick each other up."
Kody Litzen filled 14 of the 18 frames he bowled for the Hodags in the match with eight strikes. Cody Bednarz was 7 of 16, Austin Blasius was 6 of 16, Kyler Koeppel was 5 of 14, Dylan Welch went 2 of 13 and Bella Walkowski was 1 of 13.
"Kody Litzen did really well with only four opens. We had him play every game because we needed someone solid in the end," Bourcier said.
District tournament ahead
This Sunday kicks off the four-round District 9 team tournament that will be used to determine which teams qualify for the WiHSBC state meet in Weston in early March. Teams will bowl two, seven-game matches Sunday at Rose Bowl Lanes in Marshfield and two more Feb. 18 in Weston, with the cumulative 28-game total determining which teams move on.
The Rhinelander/Eagle River boys are vying for one of two qualifying spots in Division 1 for boys/co-ed teams. The Rhinelander/Elcho girls will also be competing for one of two qualifying spots in the Division 2 girls' field.
"I feel good about the boys," Bourcier said. "Marshfield can be a good-scoring house. We're on the right track. We're building. We're looking good there. The girls, it's going to be a struggle. There are some good girls teams there. It comes down to spare making ... If they can keep (the opens) down, we're not out of it. We've just got to eliminate the simple opens and the bad pin counts."
Additionally the top 10 boys and top four girls in District 9 following the Feb. 18 competition will qualifying for the individual portion of the state meet. Bloomquist is currently first (85.71 percent) and Schneider is seventh (79.37 percent) among District 9 bowlers who have bowled a qualifying number of frames. Mackenzie Bourcier is 11th in the girls' standings (70.63 percent).
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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